29
Aiden
Aiden’s pulse pounded inhis ears, deafening to the point where he couldn’t hear anything else even if he could see Nyle’s mouth opening and closing as he shouted in response to whatever Darren or Kristen or Rick were saying.
No,not Rick.Rick wasn’t with them. Rick wasn’t one of them.
Rick was a traitor.
Aiden felt like he’d been stabbed in the heart. Like his one and only friend—his best friend—rammed the knife into his chest and twisted it. He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. The world was a blur. But his legs kept going, driven by the adrenaline rush and Darren’s firm grip around his wrist more so than rational thought.
A loud hiss flew by Aiden’s left ear when he reached the hangar doors. He whipped his head back just in time to catch a dark outline on the ramp aiming a bright red laser sight at him. A loud bang followed. Jerking to the left, he barely managed to dodge and even so, the bullet still grazed his shoulder, sending pain spiraling from his arm to the rest of his body. It felt likescorching hot nails were digging into his flesh, the sensation so absolute, Aiden’s awareness narrowed down just to the pain, paralyzing his legs.
“Aiden, run!” Darren shouted, yanking him forward and out of his reeling thoughts.
They dove out of the hideout via the gap in the closing door, the space disappearing so quickly Aiden’s injured should skidded along the metal frame. But even as he howled out in pain, he didn’t stop running, didn’t slow Darren down, panting and grunting and racing toward the Maine as bullets flew past and by.
“Bea, forget the bracket and get the ship ready for takeoff!” Kristen was shouting when Aiden caught up, his breaths loud and labored.
Rick had betrayed him.Them. Aiden and the people that were starting to feel like a family. He must’ve been the one to rig the cooling bracket with the transmitter. He’d led Marcus straight to the hideout.To Darren and Sara,and now Marcus was going to kill all of them because he didn’t need them anymore.
“I’m fucking on it, Kristen! I was halfway to engineering when the intrusion alert went off!”Bea shouted through the earpiece.
The hangar door shut behind them with a loud hiss and a clank, though it was unlikely it would provide much of an obstacle if the intruders had managed to get past the entrance at the crater. They needed to get out of here and fast.
Aiden picked up pace, running with single-minded focus up the ramp to the ship. Darren was right behind, hitting the airlock’s emergency close button the moment they stepped in the pressurizing chamber. The elevator past it took them to the bridge, and all of them, aside from Kristen, headed for the cockpit.
“Shit. Guys, I think they found the tunnel. There’s a ship blocking our way out and it’s got reinforced plating,”Bea announced over the ship’s comms, sounding out of breath.
“Already on it. You’ll have the big guns online in 120 seconds,” Nyle reassured her, slipping into the co-pilot’s seat. “Kristen, do you need help with the bracket?”
With some of the adrenaline leaving his system, Aiden started coming down from the rush. The world around him slowed down, and the sensation of burning in his throat and lungs heightened to uncomfortable levels. His arm was sticky and warm and starting to sting, but at least when he glanced at the bullet wound, it seemed superficial.
“No, I’ve got it. I just…”Kristen replied, his voice slightly scrambled in that same way everyone’s was whenever they spoke over comms.“I need to take it out and do a system purge, then reset and restart it. It shouldn’t take more than ten minutes. The other three should be able to handle the core load as long as Bea doesn’t go too crazy.”
“And if I do?” Bea said, joining them in the cockpit. She flung herself over the armrest of the pilot’s chair and settled in. Sweat beaded her forehead as she powered up the ship and disconnected it from the docking clamp.
“If it overheats, the core will shut down,”Kristen said matter-of-factly.“We’ll lose all power and make ourselves an easy target.”
“Yeah? Well, tough luck, Kris. The assholes in the hideout are about to blow the hangar doors open. Weneedto go.” Bea spun the Maine around, maneuvering it toward the blast doors leading into the tunnel. “Here’s hoping the guys out back only brought one ship, so this baby”—she patted the ship’s manual controls—“can handle it.”
“Ten minutes is all I need, B, and you can go crazy.”
Bea looked around the cockpit, biting her lips. “We don’t have ten minutes,” she muttered to herself, dismissing error codes the system check was firing at her. “Kris, sweetheart, make it five and I promise you’ll get the best ever sex as soon as we give Marcus the slip.”
“Didko,”Kristen groaned, his earpiece picking up on something that sounded like tools hitting the floor.
He and Bea carried on with the banter over the ship’s comms and Nyle occasionally joined in as well, though Aiden could feel the tension bleeding through their laughter. He tuned them out as soon as Darren faced him. Darren’s expression turned from determined and focused to worried as his indigo eyes noticed the blood.
Clamping his fingers harder against the graze, Aiden offered a small smile. “It’s not deep. I just need to clea—”
“Darren, Kesley, I need you over there,” Bea interrupted, waving at the weapons’ system. “The armor-shredder guns are online. I’ve switched them to manual just in case the Maine isn’t ready when we bust out of this rock. Nyle’s got one of them. Take the other.”
Her tone suggested none of this was optional, so Aiden gritted teeth and dragged himself over to the free gun. Darren clutched the wooden box and did the same, slipping into the chair before Aiden could claim it.
“Bea, you’ve got a first aid kit around here?” Darren asked, frowning at the gun’s interface.
“Yep, under the co-pilot’s seat, but unless Kelsey is dying, this can wait.” She scoffed when Darren directed a hard look her way. “I’m getting the doors opennow.”
